Most people recognize Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), as a satirist, humorist and literary figure. Less known is Twain’s activism in supporting the general cause of freedom and human dignity. Some accounts indicate that in 1881, Mark Twain endorsed and patronized the Parisian art education of Charles Ethan Porter, a talented African American artist from Vernon, Connecticut. And in a move that was to have reverberations during the civil Rights era, in 1885 Twain helped Warner T. Mc Guinn, a young African American student, attend Yale Law School. Warner T. Mc Guinn later became a mentor to Thurgood Marshall, who became the first African American Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. In a comment on his financial support of Mc Guinn, Twain wrote:

"I do not believe I would very cheerfully help a white student who would ask a benevolence of a stranger. But I do not feel so about the other color. We have ground the manhood out of them, and the shame is ours, not theirs and we should pay for it."

In 1905, Mark Twain’s political satire, "King Leopold's Soliloquy" was published. With it, Twain condemned King Leopold of Belgium for his brutal rule of the Congo and aroused the world to the atrocities being perpetrated against the people of the Congo Free State.

The Mark Twain House offers daily guided tours. There are also rotating exhibits on Twain’s life and legacy in the nation’s first LEED-certified museum and visitor center, opened in 2003. Throughout the year, The Mark Twain House & Museum presents special events and educational programs that illuminate Twain’s literary legacy for fans of all ages.